


no grave can hold my body down (i'll crawl home to her)

by rileyhart



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Book 7: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Canon Divergence, F/M, mostly ginny's pov, quite a bit of torture so heads up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-16
Updated: 2019-06-16
Packaged: 2020-05-12 23:59:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19239733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rileyhart/pseuds/rileyhart
Summary: in which voldemort finds out about harry's affections for ginny weasley, and, along with luna, she is snatched off the hogwarts express





	no grave can hold my body down (i'll crawl home to her)

**Author's Note:**

> so this started out as a lil idea that ended in 8 pages at 1 am lmaaaooo. this is wildly unproof read but i just wanna post bc otherwise i won't be able to sleep. purely rated teen bc of some of the torture stuff so just a heads up about that.  
> enjoy nerds (that's a weird thing to say after talking about torture)

“Tell me, Draco!” He demands, his voice high and cruel. “Tell me about the boy! About his weaknesses!”

“I- I-” stammers the child. “He was, uh, never very good at potions.”

It’s a weak reply and not the one Lord Voldemort was looking for. He lets out a laugh and slaps Draco Malfoy across the face. “ _Who_ are his weaknesses, you idiot boy!”

“Weasley!” Cries out Draco, cowering at the Dark Lord’s feet, clutching his cheek. “Weasley and Granger.”

“Yes,” Voldemort muses, twisting his wand in his hand (at which Draco watches fearfully), “I know of them. They are travelling with him, I believe. Who else, Draco?”

“The girl! The Weasley girl! He- They, they were dating, I think.”

Voldemort looks pleased at this. This is news. This is what he wanted.

“Stand, Draco,” he orders, a hint of gratitude in his voice.

Draco stands his head bowed.

Voldemort places his hand under Draco’s chin and lifts his head so the scared grey eyes, meet the unfeeling red ones. “You have down well, Draco.” He murmurs. “Your parents will be proud.” He drops his hand.

“Th- Thank you, Master,” Draco manages to reply, before leaving the room; his long strides giving away his desperation to leave.

Voldemort does not care. He has an answer. He has a new job for Bellatrix. The Dark Lord is pleased indeed.

A few hundred miles away, Harry Potter, too, feels Voldemort’s pleasure.

* * *

Ginny Weasley is staring absentmindedly out the window when they come. Her thoughts are caught on the dead branches of the trees the train passes as it hurtles back to Kings Cross for the Christmas holidays. Her thoughts of a Christmas without Ron, Harry, and Hermione. Of where they might be. What they might be doing.

Luna and Neville are in the compartment with her, and she half listens to their conversation as Luna enthrals Neville in yet another wild hearted conspiracy.

They come before Ginny even has time to process who They are.

A _crack_ and a scream and someone in hooded robes is grabbing her. Before she can even so much as reach for her wand the person holding her is disapparating, pulling her through that long, compressing tube.

She finally lets out a scream as they apparate into a dark, dank room. She shrieks with all her might, struggling against the Death Eater's grip. Much to her horror, she hears Luna’s voice from behind her, demanding to be let go.

_No. No. Not Luna. Please not Luna._

Ginny briefly feels a wand poked into her back, and a pain shoot through her before everything goes black.

* * *

When she comes too, Luna is sitting by her side, stroking her hair softly.

“Oh, Ginny,” Luna breathes, her shoulders sagging with relief, “you’re okay.” Luna turns her head and calls out into the room as Ginny pushes herself up onto her elbows. “Mr Ollivander! She’s awake!”

“Oh?” Comes a weak voice from the darkness. “Oh, that’s good, dear.”

Ginny sits up properly, her head starting to make sense of the surroundings. They’re in a room of complete darkness. No windows. Stone walls, floor, and ceiling. With her, Luna, and - strangely enough - Ollivander the wand maker. She feels for her pocket. No wand.

“I don’t know what he got you with, but it was worse than a stunner,” Luna is saying to her, her tone rather conversational, “you were out much longer than me.”

She looks inquisitively at nothing in particular, truly wondering what Ginny had been cursed with as if this were a D.A meeting and Harry had asked them a question.

“Where are we, Luna?” Ginny asks, drawing her friend out of her reverie.

“We’re in the Malfoy basement.” Luna says pleasantly.

“The Malfoys?” Ginny mutters, more to herself than to Luna. “Why?” She stands up and begins to run her hands over the walls, searching for the crack of a door.

“Well I expect they want me here to stop Daddy from writing about what’s really going on.” Luna replies, watching Ginny walk around the basement. “Why do they want you here, Mr Ollivander?” She asks, turning to face the old man sitting in the corner.

Ollivander looks at the young girl, seeing her curious and gentle nature. “He wants to know about wands. About one wand in particular.”

“About Harry’s wand, I suppose.” Ginny says without missing a beat, her fingertips running over the cool rock.

Ollivander looks at her curiously, but doesn’t reply.

“And I bet you’re here because you dated Harry,” Luna says to Ginny matter of factly. Ginny stops in her tracks, her fingers still lingering on the stone. She loves Luna, but sometimes she wishes she wouldn’t say everything on her mind.

Harry had broken up with her for this very reason, and yet, here she is…

“Yeah, I reckon you’re right.” Ginny replies, unable to keep the hurtful sarcasm out of her voice. But Luna seems not to notice nor to care, as she begins to quietly hum a tune Ginny vaguely knows but can’t quite place.

“Mr Ollivander,” Ginny says after a moment, turning to face the old man, “how long have you been here?”

“Oh, weeks, months maybe? I lose track of the days down here. It’s been so long since I saw sunlight.” The old man sounds more wistful than upset, as if he always knew it would come to this. Ginny winces at his words.

“And, uh, what have they been doing to you?” She walks over to him to ask him this, more hesitant than before. Behind her, Luna’s tune has ceased.

Ollivander, his eyes sunken, stares up at Ginny. “They… they torture me.” His voice is hollow and frightened now, and Ginny gulps. “I told them what I knew, child, I had to. You must understand. I am so sorry, but I had to.” His voice trembles and Ginny has never seen anyone so defeated, so pathetic.

She kneels beside the crumbling old man and places a hand on his shoulder, as she imagines Harry would. “It’s okay, Mr Ollivander. It’s okay.”

* * *

Ginny soon comes to understand Ollivander’s inability to keep track of the time in the Malfoy basement. Food - if you could call it that - appears either once or twice a day, Ginny’s not sure how long it is between the meals. There’s no sun, no moon in the basement. No way to keep track of the days.

Nobody comes down unless it’s to collect one of the three prisoners. Ginny and Luna attempt to ambush the Death Eaters as they bring Ollivander back from a torturing session but they don’t even step into the basement, just throw Ollivander’s limp body into the room, before the doorway seals itself.

“NO!” Ginny screams, pounding her fists against the solid wall. “Fucking let us out! Let us out, you cowards!”

She hits the walls until her hands are bleeding and tears are running down her face.

“Ginny,” Luna says, her voice harsher than usual, “that’s not going to get us out. Help me with Mr Ollivander instead, please.”

Ginny wants to yell at her in that moment, but her eyes linger on Ollivander’s unmoving body and all anger leaves her body. “I’m sorry,” she whispers to Luna, dropping to her knees beside Ollivander.

“It’s quite alright,” Luna replies. “Now let’s get him more comfortable so he doesn’t hurt too much when he wakes up.”

* * *

Ginny estimates that she’s been there a week before they finally haul her up the basement stairs.

“The red head!” Barks Fenrir Greyback, his wand aloft; the three of them standing against the back wall.

Ginny steps forward, and she feels Luna grab her wrist momentarily, a soft fleeting touch of reassurance. _I’ll be here when you get back._

Ginny wishes in that moment she could tell Luna just how much she loves her.

Greyback grabs Ginny roughly by the upper arm and pulls her out of the basement.

“Careful,” Ginny spits at Greyback, who is being rougher then he needs to.

“Oh don’t worry,” croons Greyback sarcastically, “I wouldn’t hurt your pretty face. Not unless I was really hungry.” He leans in towards her, licking his lips, and Ginny recoils, disgusted.

As he leads her through the manor, she considers wriggling out of his grasp, but he is holding her so tight and his wand is poking into her side. Plus, even if, by some miracle, she got away… there’s Luna. She couldn’t just leave her.

She lets Greyback lead her to what must be the Malfoys’ drawing room. A small room with a high window; a glass cabinet filled with old looking artefacts beside it. A desk in one corner and an armchair beside a bookshelf in another. In a bell jar, a small, solid gold snake twists itself round a post, hissing softly.

“Here she is, Miss,” Greyback says, throwing Ginny forward. She stumbles but catches herself before she falls.

Ginny stands, staring at the back of the figure by the window.

Bellatrix Lestrange turns around, her dark eyes flashing with a cruel delight. “Leave, Greyback. I want to talk with Little Miss Weasley alone.”

It’s a mark at the power of fear Bellatrix has that Ginny almost wishes Greyback would stay.

Greyback leaves without protest, shutting the door behind him as Bellatrix steps closer to Ginny.

Ginny stares back at the hateful woman, hoping her thudding heart doesn’t give away her fear.

“So,” whispers Bellatrix, now dangerously close to Ginny, “you’re the girl “The Boy Who Lived” has chosen to love, are you?” Her voice drips with sarcasm at the mention of Harry; hilarity etched into her threatening tone.

Ginny knows her only hope is to play dumb. To downplay everything that happened last year. “I dunno if you’d call snogging a few times, ‘love’, but yeah, sure, whatever.” She raises her fingers in quotation marks at the word ‘ _love_ ’, and Bellatrix smiles at this, as if the two are sharing an old inside joke.

“Well then,” Bellatrix says, the smile stretching into a broad grin, “if Saint Potter doesn’t love you then I suppose he won’t mind if I do this.”

She presses her wand to Ginny’s abdomen and whispers: “Crucio.”

Pain beyond pain fills Ginny as she falls to the ground, her shrieks filling the small room. She writhes and Bellatrix jumps up and down like a gleeful child.

She lifts the curse and smiles down at her victim. “How was that? Do you think he would mind that?”

It takes Ginny all her strength to muster her answer. “No.” She spits. “Not in the slightest.”

“Crucio!” Screams Bellatrix once more. “Stupid, bloodtrait brat!”

Ginny finds herself wishing for the basement. That cool, beautiful basement. With Luna and Ollivander…

The curse is lifted and Ginny can hear her screams echoing off the walls, though she has no memory of creating them.

“Tell me, Miss Weasley,” Bellatrix leans down over Ginny, “where is Potter? What are his plans involving the Dark Lord?”

Ginny keeps her eyes shut, as if that’ll keep her safe somehow. “I don’t know,” she whispers, and fear has successfully crept its way into her voice. “Please, I- I don’t know.”

The weakness only invigorates Bellatrix rather than deter her. “That’s the incorrect answer, you little slut. Crucio!”

Ginny’s entire body is lifted off the ground this time and when she falls back to the ground she no longer has the strength to scream. Only a whimper escapes her lips.

“I’ll ask again,” Bellatrix’s voice is poison as she leans close enough for Ginny to feel her breath with every word spoken. “Where. Is. Potter.”

Somewhere, somewhere down deep, the Gryffindor lion stirs in Ginny. “Okay,” Ginny whispers, “okay.”

Bellatrix is delighted by this answer, as if she hadn’t been expecting it to be this easy. “Well tell me, girl!” She demands, still just as close to Ginny’s face.

Ginny’s eyes snap open.

A lion roars and a sword is drawn.

She spits right into Bellatrix’s eyes.

There’s a howl, and Bellatrix slaps Ginny, before sending her body flying across the room and crashing into the glass cabinet.

The glass shatters spectacularly, raining down on Ginny’s unconscious body.

* * *

Two large, protuberant, grey eyes hover above her.

Ginny blinks.

She’s back in the basement, her head in Luna’s lap. “It’s okay,” Luna whispers, “you’re back with us.”

Ginny’s whole body aches and she shuts her eyes.

If she had more strength she’d say there’s nothing okay about being in this basement.

* * *

Their trio grows one afternoon when a goblin by the name of Griphook is thrown into the basement.

Snarling, he refuses to speak to them. And none of them feel the need to push it. Happy to leave the goblin to his own devices as he paces the length of the cellar daily, muttering in audibly under his breath.

Once or twice Ginny thinks she finds him looking curious at the mention of Harry, but then she looks at him and the curiosity is gone, replaced with the usual superior disdain.

* * *

For what feels like weeks Ginny is taken up and down those basement stairs to be tortured and quizzed about Harry’s whereabouts.

But Ginny knows that’s only half the reason she’s there.

She’s bait. Or meant to be at least. Meant to bring Harry Potter crawling on his hands and knees to Lord Voldemort.

But he’s not coming.

“Your boyfriend is a hard person to get into contact with,” Bellatrix says to her during one of their torturing sessions; Ginny lying at her feet. “Or maybe you’re right. Maybe he doesn’t actually love you.”

Ginny hates herself for wondering why he hasn’t come. She’s _glad_ he hasn’t come. Glad he’s focusing on saving the wizarding world.

She stares up at the stone ceiling.

_Why hasn’t he come?_

* * *

In a forest, many miles from Malfoy Manor, Ronald Weasley is stabbing Slytherin’s locket with Gryffindor’s sword as he and Harry Potter crouch by an ice cold lake in the snow. Both of them soaking wet.

A bit of Voldemort’s soul dies in that cold forest.

“Ron,” Harry begins “how-”

“They’ve got Ginny.” Ron says before Harry has a chance to finish.

“What?” Harry’s mind unable to process what Ron’s just told him.

“Ginny. They’ve got Ginny.”

* * *

“I’m here!” Harry bellows outside the gates of Malfoy Manor. “That’s what you wanted, wasn’t it?! Let me in, dammit!”

He rattles the iron spokes and Hermione grabs him. “Harry, stop! You’re being reckless.”

“ _I’m_ being reckless?! They could be torturing her _right now_ , Hermione!”

_If anything’s happened to her…_

“You don’t even know she’s here!” Hermione says shrilly.

“I looked into his mind, Hermione!” Harry replies through gritted teeth.

_She can’t be dead. She can’t be._

“You said he was wondering why you hadn’t come to Malfoy Manor! Not that you saw Ginny here!” She retorts.

Ron opens his mouth to quiet the pair of them, but there’s a _crack_ from behind them, and all three whip around; pulling their wands out as they do.

Six hooded Death Eaters surround them, their wands drawn. Harry, Ron, and Hermione back towards the gate, which remains steadfastly shut.

Harry feels pain shoot through his scar, as the Death Eaters press their Dark Marks to call their beloved Master.

He feels Voldemort’s pleasure. His plan worked. The Boy came.

“The Dark Lord knew you’d come running eventually, Potter,” drawls Lucius Malfoy from beneath one of the hoods and Harry is pulled back to earth, “you never can resist playing the hero.”

Lucius lifts his wand, and ropes shoot out of it, meant to bind the trio, but in a flash Hermione performs a wordless shield charm and the ropes disintegrate upon impact.

The three are now standing so closely together, they’re practically on top of one another. Harry softly presses down on their feet. A silent sign of a plan.

Lucius laughs. “Very clever, Granger. But that won’t block everything. Cruc-”

With the smallest flick of her wrist the shield charm vanishes, and Ron and Harry cast their curses as Hermione removes her shield charm. Ron stuns a Death Eater and Harry hits Lucius Malfoy with Sectumsempra before he has the chance to finish his curse.

The other four Death Eaters react but the trio are more than a match for them.

Five Death Eaters lying on the ground - Lucius bleeding - they pocket all the wands. Harry holds a wand up against the trembling form of Wormtail. “Take us inside.” He orders, and with a whimper, Wormtail obeys.

* * *

Ginny, Luna, Ollivander, and Griphook awake to a disturbance above.

Ginny sits upright, sharing a terrified look with Luna, as they listen to the noise coming from the Manor.

“It sounds like…” Ginny whispers.

“Duelling,” Luna replies.

“Your boss knows I’m here!” Yells a voice from and Ginny feels her heart stop.

“Harry!” She breathes.

“So let them go!” Harry finishes.

“Harry!” Ginny screams, banging on the concealed doorway. “Harry! Harry! We’re down here!”

“Don’t hurt him! Don’t hurt him!” They can hear Bellatrix commanding. “He is the Dark Lord’s!”

“Oh, _am I_?!” Harry laughs loudly. “Funny that he’s never managed to catch me yet!”

“Cruc-” Bellatrix begins but she is cut off by Harry’s own curse.

“Crucio!” He yells at her for the second time in his life.

But this time it works.

Ginny and Luna exchange horrified looks at the otherworldly sound of Bellatrix’s scream.

The scream is cut off suddenly and there are muffled yells above them. A chorus of curses and screams. Everything inaudible as the four in the basement listen intensely.

“Where did you get this sword?!” Comes Bellatrix’s unmistakable voice, cutting through the rest of the noise, and Ginny feels her heart drop.

An inaudible reply. A scream.

There’s a scuffling behind the door.

“Someone’s coming down the stairs,” Ginny mutters, pulling Luna away from the doorway as Ron bursts through it.

The two siblings stare at each other for a moment, before they throw their arms around one another, gripping the other tighter than they ever have before. Neither of them have any words.

Griphook, not missing the opportunity, runs out of the basement as the two hug.

“We’ve got to go!” Ron says, letting go of his sister. “Now!”

“Ollivander,” Luna turns back for him, but Ron stops her.

“Go! Now! I’ll get Ollivander!” He shoves two wands into their hands, and they take them, rushing out of the basement and up the stairs.

They are met to a scene they did not expect. Bellatrix, standing over Hermione’s body, dagger drawn. The sword of Gryffindor lying beside them. Harry with his wand pointing at Narcissa, who is standing behind Bellatrix, her wand pointing right back at Harry.

Wormtail lying dead feet from them, his own silver hand around his neck.

And, Dobby the House Elf, standing in front of Harry, his hand pointing at the great chandelier above Bellatrix and Hermione.

The scene before the pair seems to unfreeze, as the chandelier falls in slow motion towards Bellatrix and Hermione.

Ron, appearing behind Ginny with Ollivander in tow lets out a yell, and leaps wildly for Hermione. Bellatrix jumps out of the way as Ron grabs Hermione, shielding her as best as he can from shattering chandelier.

Pieces of glass and crystal scatter across the ground, and Harry screams for them all to get to Dobby.

There’s a last bellow of ‘ _Shell Cottage!_ ’ from Ron as Ginny grabs onto Dobby and everything goes black.

* * *

Ginny takes a gasp of air and tastes salt.

She opens her eyes.

She’s lying on a beach. Her back on hard, damp sand.

She hears the waves crash and sits up.

A small cottage sits not far off.

_Bill and Fleur’s_.

She looks around. Luna is beside her, brushing sand off her knee. Griphook and Ollivander lie not far off. There’s no sign of Dobby, Harry, Ron, or Hermione.

“This is a lovely place,” Luna says wistfully, watching the waves. She stands up and walks over to Ollivander, helping him up.

She offers a hand out to Griphook and begrudgingly the goblin takes it, helping himself to his feet.

“Do you know where we are, Ginny?” Luna asks her, standing with the old wandmaker on one side and the stubborn goblin on the other.

“It’s my brother’s place,” Ginny whispers. “Just there,” she points to the cottage.

Luna looks vaguely in the direction of the cottage. “I don’t see anything.”

_The Fidelius Charm_ , Ginny thinks, _of course_.

“I’ll go. Get Bill.” But as soon as she’s uttered this and stood up, there’s a loud _crack_ and Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Dobby appear just metres away.

“You did it, Dobby,” Ron says, “this is the place.”

But the Elf doesn’t reply. He sways on the spot, and they watch on in horror as he falls into Harry’s outstretched arms, Bellatrix’s dagger protruding from his chest.

* * *

Ginny watches from her window as Harry begins to dig the grave without using magic.

She’s showered and dressed in a pair of Fleur’s pyjamas. Weeks of enduring the Cruciatus curse damage a person’s body and Ginny’s only just starting to feel its full effects as she sits in a comfy bed so different from the cold stone of the basement.

She cries. She howls. Her body aches.

Luna sits beside her, an arm around her. She’s crying too.

* * *

Ginny thinks of Dumbledore’s funeral as the small group stands around Dobby’s grave and Luna speaks. So many people. Such a grand affair.

She looks over at Harry, who appears to be trying hard not to cry. She thinks about sitting next to him at Dumbledore’s funeral. About what he’d said to her.

And it had all been for nothing.

Voldemort had still found out. Still used her.

* * *

Bill had sent word to the rest of the Weasley’s almost as soon as Ginny had arrived. She’s to go to Auntie Murial’s tonight by side along apparition with Bill, while the rest are to remain at Shell Cottage until they’re better.

She’s grateful to be returning to family but there’s a slight bitterness that after everything she’s been put through that she won’t be able a moment with Harry or the others. That she won’t find out what they’re up to. What she’d been tortured for.

She gets a window after the funeral, as everyone else heads back inside, except for Harry. She feels Bill watching. A look that says she doesn’t have much time.

“Harry,” she whispers, and he looks around as if surprised to see her. She slips her hand into his and squeezes it. “I’m sorry.”

He looks at her for a moment, before turning away, tears in his eyes. He shakes his head. “ _I’m_ sorry.” He croaks, as if his voice hasn’t been used in many years. “I- I should’ve come sooner but I didn’t know.”

Ginny smiles at him slightly, squeezing his hand again, as she leans into him, holding onto his arm. “No, Harry, you shouldn’t have come at all.”

“Of course I was gonna-” He starts but Ginny silences him with a look.

“I know,” she whispers. “I know. But you don’t need to be sorry, Harry.”

“I never should’ve let anyone know about how I felt about you. That was stupid. That was selfish. Everyone knew. Snape. Malfoy.” Harry kicks a discarded rock nearby. “They probably told him. I’m so sorry he used you, Ginny. I _hate_ that he did that.” His voice breaks but this time he doesn’t turn away as the tears gleam in his eyes.

“ _I'm_ not sorry.” Ginny whispers. “Being with you last year, Harry… that was wonderful. I’m sorry it came to this, but I’m not sorry for last year. For people knowing. For us being happy.”

_Happy_. It sounds like a foreign memory to Harry.

He pulls her into a hug. A proper, head to heart, arms wrapped right around, hug. She can hear his heart beating in his chest as she holds onto him tightly. She longs to kiss him, but she knows that would be too much for either of them.

They’ve already broken one another’s heart. More than once. There’s no need to do it again.

Harry’s arms loosen and Ginny steps back.

Words linger unsaid between them.

“Goodbye, Harry,” Ginny finally whispers, and she walks away, not looking back.

Harry watches her go, feeling emptier than ever. He watches until she meets Bill on the edge of cottage and the two vanish with a _crack_.

He lets out a sob for Dobby and a sob for Ginny and he lets himself cry until there’s none left.

He wipes his eyes with the back of his sleeves.

He wonders if Ginny right now is being embraced by Mrs Weasley. If Fred and George are trying to cheer her up with one of their jokes.

He knows she knows that he, Ron, Hermione won’t be joining her at Auntie Muriel’s later on. He knows that she understands that there's more they've got to do. That they can't rest until they've done it.

He wonders if she also knows that he loves her. He hopes so.

**Author's Note:**

> pleeeease comment! it makes me happy!


End file.
